September 2012 Briefing - Neurology

Here are what the editors at HealthDay consider to be the most important developments in Neurology for September 2012. This roundup includes the latest research news from journal articles, as well as the FDA approvals and regulatory changes that are the most likely to affect clinical practice.

Benzodiazepine Use Linked to Increased Risk of Dementia

FRIDAY, Sept. 28 (HealthDay News) -- New use of benzodiazepines correlates with an increase in the risk of dementia, according to a study published online Sept. 27 in BMJ.

FRIDAY, Sept. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Over 60 percent of women have male DNA in their brains, possibly from a prior pregnancy with a male fetus, which is associated with a lower prevalence of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published online Sept. 26 in PLoS One.

THURSDAY, Sept. 27 (HealthDay News) -- A considerable proportion of severe intellectual disability results from de-novo genetic variants, suggesting that only a small proportion of cases are likely to be inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion, according to a study published online Sept. 27 in The Lancet.

THURSDAY, Sept. 27 (HealthDay News) -- After 15 years of follow-up, patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who display disease activity despite treatment with interferon (IFN)β-1a tend to have unfavorable long-term outcomes, according to research published online Sept. 13 in the Annals of Neurology.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Medical warnings to patients who are potentially unfit to drive correlate with a reduction in the number of road crashes in which the patient is a driver, according to a study published in the Sept. 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) can be differentiated according to their transcription profile, according to a study published in the Sept. 26 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

TUESDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) -- The protein lost in fragile X syndrome, the most common genetic cause of autism, is part of a complex that, when targeted by a drug that boosts a natural marijuana-like chemical in the brain, corrects some of the behavioral abnormalities in mice, according to a study published online Sept. 25 in Nature Communications.

TUESDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with sporadic Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease (sCJD) are often misdiagnosed, with only 18 percent correctly diagnosed at their first assessment, according to a study published online Sept. 24 in the Archives of Neurology.

TUESDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) -- For children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a possibly interrelated phenomenon of co-existing anxiety, sensory over-responsivity, and gastrointestinal (GI) problems is common, according to a study published online Aug. 1 in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- When presented with tasty foods, the brain produces the opioid peptide enkephalin that stimulates an unexpected reward center in the brain and leads to overeating, according to a study published online Sept. 20 in Current Biology.

THURSDAY, Sept. 20 (HealthDay News) -- A neuroprosthetic device can improve or restore impaired decision-making in monkeys, according to a study published in the October issue of the Journal of Neural Engineering.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 19 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, treatment with oral BG-12 (dimethyl fumarate) is associated with a reduction in the annualized relapse rate comparable to that found with glatiramer acetate and significantly better than that found with placebo, according to two studies published in the Sept. 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

MONDAY, Sept. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Children with type 1 diabetes have significant structural differences in the white matter of their brain compared to healthy children, which correlates with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values, according to a study published online Sept. 10 in Diabetes Care.

MONDAY, Sept. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Health ambiguity, or uncertainty about the outcome of illness, is significantly associated with depression in survivors of first stroke, and this association is stronger for men than women, according to research published online Sept. 14 in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

FRIDAY, Sept. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Approximately 15 percent of patients exhibit some disability 90 days after a minor stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), and more than 50 percent of patients who have a recurrent event experience disability, according to a study published online Sept. 13 in Stroke.

THURSDAY, Sept. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Acupuncture is an effective treatment for chronic pain conditions, including back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, and chronic headache, with pain relief superior to both no-acupuncture controls and sham-acupuncture groups, according to the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis published online Sept. 10 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 12 (HealthDay News) -- There is considerable variation in the phenotypes associated with recurrent copy-number variants, with multiple, large copy-number variants compounding to result in severe clinical presentation, according to a study published online Sept. 12 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

TUESDAY, Sept. 11 (HealthDay News) -- The previously reported association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and low socioeconomic position (SEP) has been confirmed in a large German cohort, according to a research letter published online Sept. 10 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

TUESDAY, Sept. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with Parkinson's disease may benefit from acupuncture treatment on acupoint GB34, with improved neural response noted after acupuncture stimulation, according to a study published in the September issue of CNS Neurosciences & Therapeutics.

MONDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDay News) -- A critical active ingredient in green tea promotes the growth of hippocampal neurons and improves memory in adult mice, according to an experimental study published in the August issue of Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.

FRIDAY, Sept. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Breast cancer survivors who were previously treated with chemotherapy experience small cognitive deficits in the domains of verbal ability and visuospatial ability, according to a study published online Aug. 27 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

FRIDAY, Sept. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Although most health care workers (HCWs) appreciate the role of patients in preventing health care-associated infection, a considerable proportion are uncomfortable with patients asking about their hand hygiene, according to a letter published online Sept. 3 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

FRIDAY, Sept. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Adult long-term survivors of childhood Hodgkin's lymphoma are at risk for neurocognitive impairment, according to research published online Sept. 4 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

THURSDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- For elderly adults with memory complaints, use of standardized ginkgo biloba extract is no better than placebo for reducing the incidence of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published online Sept. 6 in The Lancet Neurology.

THURSDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be detected with high accuracy by tracking eye movements while watching television, according to a study published online Aug. 27 in the Journal of Neurology.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Neurodegenerative mortality is about three times higher among retired National Football League players, with Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis mortality even higher, compared to the general U.S. population, according to a study published online Sept. 5 in Neurology.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Cigarette smoking increases the risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in a dose-responsive manner, and cessation correlates with a reduction in SAH risk, according to a study published online Aug. 30 in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Combat stress has adverse effects on the mesofrontal circuit of the brain that are partially reversible, according to research published online Sept. 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer and melanoma, which extends to their third-degree relatives, and there is evidence of a reciprocal risk, according to a study published online Sept. 3 in the Archives of Neurology.

TUESDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Of U.S. adults with hypertension, more than half have uncontrolled hypertension, yet the majority report having a usual source of care and health insurance, according to a study published in the Sept. 4 early-release issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.

TUESDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- For cognitively healthy individuals without type 2 diabetes, high plasma levels within the normal range are associated with atrophy in the hippocampus and amygdala, according to a study published in the Sept. 4 issue of Neurology.

TUESDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- There is evidence for lower cognitive performance and changes in the brain's structural integrity among adolescents with metabolic syndrome (MetS), according to a study published online Sept. 3 in Pediatrics.

MONDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Stressful habits and type A behavior correlate with an increased risk of stroke, according to a study published online Aug. 27 in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.